Job Series for Knowledge Management Work?

Connecting with the Feds – June 29, 2010

Dr. Denise A. D. BedfordGoodyear Professor of Knowledge ManagementKent State UniversityKent OH

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Presentation Overview• Today’s Knowledge Management Challenges

• Is Knowledge Management a Profession? ▫ Knowledge Management “Work” ▫ KM Competencies▫ KM Body of Knowledge

• Agenda for Creating a KM Job Series or Job Family

Today’s Knowledge Management Challenges

• Many people doing “knowledge management” ▫ Many different job titles▫ Different levels of compensation▫ Fragmented professional alignments

• No clear professional credentialing source

• Career opportunities exist but organizations don’t support clear and obvious career development paths for KM professionals

• My answer – Yes! But, we need to get our professional house in order to demonstrate this.

KM Job Series or Families?• A job series for KM would suggest that we have both a

professional base and an occupational series▫ Spectrum of levels of difficulty and responsibility related

to KM work▫ Supervisory and nonsupervisory KM positions ▫ KM competencies and differentiation of roles ▫ KM occupational subdivisions which reflect multiple

areas of practice – each should have a specialized line of work and qualification requirements

• Let’s see if we have what we need to create a Job Series, and also consider what value it would provide to knowledge management

Is Knowledge Management a Profession?

Knowledge Economy– Definition of a Knowledge Economy

▫ Shift from industrial to knowledge economy dates back to the late 1940s-early 1950s

▫ Shift became more visible in the 1990s – now gaining considerable steam

– Generating wealth in a Knowledge Economy means growing intellectual capital – human capital, structural capital and relational capital

– It comes down to how organizations can grow their intellectual capital to survive the shift, and to be more effective in the new economy, i.e. to become knowledge organizations

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Knowledge Organizations• KM is all about how you manage an organization and how people

do their work in the 21st century

• A knowledge organization is one that acts …. “ as intelligently as possible and realise[s] the best value from its knowledge assets, i.e. to create a learning organisation that is capable of measuring, storing and capitalising on the expertise of employees to create an organisation that is more than the sum of its parts” Bollinger and Smith, Managing organizational knowledge as a strategic asset, Journal of Knowledge Management Vol. 5, No. 1, p 8-19

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Creation

Evaluation

Formalization

As productsDissemination & Engagement

Validation

Integration into Work Processes

Facilitate

Design

Build

Manage

Individual & CommunityLevel

Organization Level

Envision Chief Knowledge Officer

Knowledge Manager

Knowledge Engineer

Knowledge Architect

Knowledge Analyst

Knowledge Workers

Levels of Knowledge Work in Knowledge Organizations

Chief Knowledge

Officer

Chief Technology

Officer

Chief FinancialOfficer

Chief Operating

Officer

KnowledgeManager

KnowledgeAnalyst

Dept.Manager

FinancialAnalyst

KnowledgeEngineer

Chief EnterpriseArchitect

KnowledgeArchitect

OperationsManager

Operations Analyst

Equivalent Alignment of Knowledge Professionals

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• Background▫ M.A. in Knowledge Management and an M.A. in another subject domain,

possibly ▫ 15 years hands on experience working in the business divisions of

private corporations and public sector organizations

• Knowledge Organization Goals▫ Knowledge Program provides a foundation for managing and leveraging

the institution’s knowledge over the next 10 years▫ Focused on the strategic visioning and planning, and resource

management aspects and the business acceptance of the knowledge program

▫ Key challenge is business embedding and organizational culture

• Characteristics: “Building Relationships” She has an extensive CKO and Cxx network, hires high level, qualified KM professionals, invests in the knowledge team, and relies on her KM professionals to realize the vision.

Jane the Chief Knowledge OfficerJane the Chief Knowledge Officer

See Handout for Role Descriptions

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• Background▫ Ideally has a blended background in the business (i.e., banking, health care, aviation,

agriculture, etc.) and experience in knowledge functions▫ Formal KM degree with another subject degree

• KM Goals▫ Works in a regional field office where he acts as a conductor for all the knowledge

management activities in his office, including learning activities, collaboration, and professional networking;

▫ Supports and encourages networking, collaboration and community building at the business level – networks with other knowledge managers in the institution;

▫ Plans and delivers activities and events that enable the business staff to recognize and exchange expertise;

▫ Works closely with knowledge architects to ensure that knowledge technologies are designed to support the way the business works;

▫ Works closely with knowledge analyst to ensure that knowledge asset management is appropriately implemented at the business level;

• Characteristics: “Business teams work smarter rather than harder. My teams are able to work more efficiently and effectively, they leverage existing knowledge and create new knowledge.” Great people skills, Patient and good communicator, renaissance knowledge

Mike the Knowledge ManagerMike the Knowledge Manager

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• Background▫ Degree or certificate in knowledge management and extensive experience in the business▫ Degree or certificate is supplemented by continuous learning in knowledge management,

most likely knowledge asset management, collaboration and communities, and business process

• KM Goals and Tasks▫ Knows the key leverage points and business critical tasks of her line of business and

business processes applications; ▫ Identifies learning and exchange events for her business units;▫ Ensure that SME’s have access to knowledge and information needed to support the

organization’s business – both internal and external sources;▫ Ensure that knowledge processes are integrated into the way that SME’s work each day; ▫ Ensures that the organization’s knowledge is captured, organized, profiled and findable;▫ Works closely with Knowledge Managers and Knowledge Architects to understand how

KM can enable effective business operations, and networks with other Knowledge Analysts on a daily basis;

• Characteristics: “Manage knowledge assets in most effective and least intrusive way,” process and ‘systems thinker’, Detail oriented and not afraid to get their hands dirty in the tacit or explicit knowledge and in coaching knowledge workers

Anne Marie the Knowledge AnalystAnne Marie the Knowledge Analyst

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• Background▫ Has very strong business domain background – subject degree in information

sciences or information technology, in addition to a formal KM degree ▫ Has strong knowledge of enterprise architecture and perhaps even an EA

certificate

• KM Goals ▫ Does a deep dive into how people work in the knowledge organization and

understands the business functionality▫ Advises the KM Analyst on issues and gaps that need to be addressed▫ Makes recommendations for configuration and design decisions to the Knowledge

Manager and provides specifications for the Knowledge Engineer▫ Has knowledge of the architectures of the applications that are used by the

business units but focuses on integration and interoperability to ensure knowledge flows across applications to where it is needed

• Characteristics: “Measure Twice, Cut Once”, Works well with Knowledge Analyst and can collaborate with others, strong information user, social and professional networker – has wide range of contacts to draw upon for ideas and information

Tim the Knowledge ArchitectTim the Knowledge Architect

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• Background:▫ Formal engineering training and degree, in addition to strong KM

certification or formal graduate degree in KM (KE concentration)▫ Good grounding in industry standards and best practices ▫ Knowledge of the business applications used throughout the organization

• KM Goals and Tasks▫ Ensuring the organization’s applications are “knowledge enabled” and

“knowledge friendly” ▫ Ensuring that the focus of development is not on the application but on

the knowledge, information and their use (interoperability, integration, data and knowledge flows)

• Characteristics: “Applications need to be connected and integrated to support access to knowledge and information.” Compliance-oriented, balances engineering and user perspectives, able to translate “requirements” into user friendly deliverables

Ruth the Knowledge EngineerRuth the Knowledge Engineer

Knowledge Management Competencies

Comparison of Two ProfessionsInformation Science

• Core Competencies• Established Career Paths and

Position Classifications• Accepted Areas of Practice• Model Curricula • Historical and Current Body

of Knowledge• Accrediting Agencies and

Professional Associations

Knowledge Management• Emerging but dynamic

competencies• Wide range of positions • Areas of practice are emerging• Wide range of certificates and

degree programs• Widely scattered body of

knowledge which is growing rapidly “at the boundaries”

• Need for accrediting agencies

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Competencies for 1st and 2nd Generation KM• 1st generation KM was a supply side strategy

▫ creating and capturing existing information and knowledge just in case it was needed in the future (Knowledge Asset Management)

• 2nd generation KM focuses on demand side, in addition to supply side▫ Creating new knowledge, innovating to fill gaps,

creating conditions where people can collaborate to create and share knowledge, organizational learning

▫ (Learning, Collaboration/Communities, Culture and Communication)

▫ Focus on existing knowledge emphasizes what is “business critical” (Intellectual Capital Management, Knowledge Operations, Knowledge Assessment)

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Competencies for 3rd Generation KM

• 3rd generation KM is emerging as a quantum leap beyond 2nd generation KM

• Focuses on representation of human knowledge for machine understanding and processing (Knowledge Architecture, Knowledge Technologies)

• The evolution of KM provides us with a very big tent of competencies and an expanding body of knowledge

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KM Competencies

Collaboration &Communities

Culture &Communication

KnowledgeOperations

Knowledge Assessment

LeadershipStrategy

Knowledge Technology

LearningEnvironment

KnowledgeAsset Mgmt.

Knowledge Architecture

Intellectual Capital Mgmt.

Technical Competencies for Knowledge Management

Sources of KM Education and Credentials

AccreditedDegrees

AccreditedCourses

AccreditedCertificates

CredentialedCertificates

CredentialedEvents

Non-AccreditedCourses

Non-CredentialedEvents

InstitutionalSpecific Credits

Lear

ning

Pro

duct

s

ProfessionalAssociations

AcademicInstitutions

IndependentCompanies Communities Employer

Training

Del

iver

y C

hann

els

Non-AccreditedCertificates

Online Asynchronous &

Synchronous

Face-to-Face Self-StudyWebinars &

TutorialsCommunities of Practice

Sources of Knowledge Management Credentials

Model KM Curriculum• Define a model curriculum which is grounded in the 10 KM

Competencies against which any KM degree or certificate can be measured

• Model curriculum covers each competency with combination of traditional courses, short executive style courses, and workshops which new and working professionals can use to acquire and build their KM knowledge and skills

• Model curriculum will help to ensure predictability and reliability of skill sets and knowledge foundations for KM professionals

• Difference between “recognizing KM” and being able to “do KM”

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Intellectual Capital Management Curriculum• Competency Management • Economics of Information • Economies of Network

Industries • Epistemology and Knowledge

Theory • Expertise Networks • Global Talent Management• Human Capital Analytics• High Performance

Organizations• Information Privacy Issues

• Intellectual Capital Management

• Intergenerational Workforce Issues

• Knowledge Economies • Management of Knowledge

Workers • Mentoring and Coaching • Talent Leadership and

Management• The Virtual Global Workforce• Workforce Planning

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Collaboration and Communities Curriculum

• Chaos and Complexity Theory • Coalition Building • Collaboration Processes• Communities of Practice• Crowdsourcing Methods• Design of the Physical

Environment

• Facilitation and Arbitration• Knowledge Networks • Peer Review Processes• Social Capital and

Collaboration • Social Computing

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Culture and Communication Curriculum

• Change Management • Managing Multicultural Organizations• Business Narrative and Storytelling• Organizational Communication for Knowledge Organizations • Organizational Culture • Rewards and Recognition

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Knowledge Operations Curriculum• Business Analytics • Business Capability Modeling

• Business Process

Management • Business Process Re-

engineering/Re-design • Business Reports Design • Business Rules Design • Business Service Costing &

Valuation

• Data Governance • Data Management • Data Mining • Decision Sciences and

Systems • Introduction to Business

Architecture • Workflow Analysis • Workflow Automation • Workload Management and

Balancing

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Knowledge Architecture Curriculum• Architecture Compliance

Methods • Introduction to Applications

Architecture • Introduction to Enterprise

Architecture • Introduction to Information

Architecture • Introduction to Knowledge

Architecture

• Multilingual Architecture • Ontological Engineering • Requirements Analysis • Semantic Web Applications • Systems Analysis • User Centered Design/User

Experience

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Knowledge Management Body of Knowledge

Body of Knowledge• Professional body of knowledge is found in its:

▫ Professional literature: journals, books, conference proceedings

▫ Current and forward-looking research agenda▫ Professional associations and communities▫ Educational institutions and credentialing sources▫ Recognition in professional classification schemes and

secondary information sources

• There is a clear need to apply KM to KM!

CultureCommunitiesOf Practice

Social &KnowledgeNetworks

Innovation WorkEnvironment

OrganizationalKnowledge & Capabilities

EnterpriseArchitecture

BusinessStrategy

Narrative

KnowledgeArchitecture

KnowledgeDiscovery

KnowledgeAttrition & Retention

Learning

KnowledgeEconomics

UserExperience

KnowledgeArchitecture

Bedford’s Characterization of Knowledge Management BoK

Assembling the Body of Knowledge• Australians have done a very good job of defining

standard behaviors and enablers for the field of knowledge management

• However, there is still no formal “Body of Knowledge” that we can point to as supporting the field of KM

• A formal Body of Knowledge would provide further support for KM as a profession

Agenda and Next Steps

What Needs to be Done and Can We Do It?

• To be done…▫ Academic work to describe the current KM work

landscape is in progress now at Kent State ▫ KM competencies, curriculum and credentialing

discussion will take place in Fall▫ Work on KM Body of Knowledge needs to ramp up

• Can it be done? ▫ Yes, but it will take a concerted effort, dialog and

consensus building and time.

Questions?Thank you!Dr. Denise BedfordGoodyear Professor of Knowledge ManagementKent State UniversityKent OH

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